ABSTRACT
For Western societies, the integration of culturally distinct groups into the larger nation-state has emerged as one of the great challenges of the early twenty-first century. To date, Canada, despite its extraordinarily high rate of immigration, has mostly averted the expansion of social conflict produced by increasing ethnic diversity, which has characterized Western Europe and, to a lesser degree, the US. Nor has Canada experienced the growth of movements of populist nationalism which in recent years have evinced strong anti-immigration elements. The Canadian multicultural model of immigrant integration has seemed to work effectively in resisting ethnic-based political and social conflict, whereas variants of multiculturalism that have been attempted elsewhere have largely failed. It is argued that the Canadian model cannot easily be replicated, owing to a unique nation-building process. Among several factors, a low-level of nationalism, specifically a weak national identity and an inhibited national character, account most critically for the relative success of Canadian multiculturalism. Comparisons are drawn with the US and other ethnically diverse western societies.
